As a veteran journalist who has spent more than half her career with so-called “mainstream” media, I regularly hear the question: “Why is the (White) media so racist?” Invariably, the question has to do with a tendency by the media to be more eager to write about Blacks who are criminal or otherwise deviant and less likely to write about the heroes and heroines in our community.

It is also the tendency of some television reporters to seek out the brother with the plastic bag on his head and the sister with the gold teeth, neither of whom have learned to speak English or even a reasonable facsimile. I can’t answer the “why” but I can tell you where some of these journalists picked up these disturbing tendencies: journalism school. Case in point, the University of Texas at Austin.

Recently, African-American News&Issues reported on the racial discrimination in the University’s School of Journalism. The story is not new. A former colleague of mine who was a journalism major was unable to get a White professor to give her a letter verifying she was a student. Not a letter of recommendation, mind you, but a letter that merely said she was enrolled. Such a letter would have allowed her to apply for scholarships and internships. Over the years, dozens and dozens of Black and brown students have come forward with similar horror stories. They have implored the local National Association of Black Journalists chapter to help them deal with the racism they faced every day in the quest to become journalists. Our members often acted as their mentors and even mental health counselors to help these promising students survive in a hostile environment that neither valued their talent nor their contributions to the profession.

Until our organization made an issue of it, the students who were referred for summer internships to Austin area media were generally all White. These internships are important because they often open the door for permanent employment after graduation. The environment was such that our organization decided to challenge the accreditation of the department. In 1990, the Austin Association of Black Communicators challenged the accreditation of the journalism department because of its failure to comply with the ACEJMC Standard 12. That is the standard set by the national journalism accrediting body that requires journalism departments to recruit, retain and advance minority students and faculty. In1996, AABC was again compelled to challenge the department’s accreditation.

Because there were also other areas in which the department did not meet standards, it was placed on probation. It managed to talk its way out of that situation, unfortunately. Now, 12 years after the original complaint, the treatment of an African-American woman and a Mexican American woman puts the spotlight on the department once again. And what we see is ugly. The climate is hostile to women and minorities, students and professors alike. The climate even pits one minority against another, often to the delight of those who favor a gladiator atmosphere rather than one of collegiality. Is this institutional racism within the journalism department uniquely a UT problem? Of course not. But in a university of the first-class, it is a shame that low-class racism is so pervasive, particularly in a field that is so powerful.